Jaipur: Safari at the Ranthambore tiger reserve becomes bigger, literally! In a bid to decongest the tiger reserve, the forest department has added a new zone at the reserve. “We have been working on zone number 10 for about two or three months and sprucing it up. It is now ready and we will be opening it for safari from January 18,” said Rahul Bhatnagar, field director, Ranthambhore. One of the most sought after tiger reserve due to easy tiger sighting, Ranthambore has been seeing a sea of tourists every year. Added to this are regular VIP visits that literally crowd up the reserve. “It is an excellent zone and is just 10km away from the national park while the zone 9 stands 40km away from it. There are four or five tigers and three cubs in this zone to add to the thrills of visitors. Safari in this zone will also help protect tigers,” he added. Tourism in tiger reserves has an added advantage of protection for the big cats. The constant flow of tourists keep poachers away. Ranthambore itself experienced the benefits of tourism in tiger zone when recently an injured tiger was spotted by tourists and the matter reported to forest officials. The new zone has some beautiful water bodies, Jojeshwar anicut, the Udai talai, Devpura dam and the Halonda anicut. The presence of panthers here are an added attraction. It has been a stroke of good luck for Ranthambore that saw a tiger boom since the past two years. Three new cubs were added to the pack at the stroke of new year when tigress T-13 was caught in a trap camera taking a stroll with three newly born cubs. According to estimates by experts, the total number of tigers at the park now stands at 49 with 24 males, 19 females and six cubs.